Honestly, it was farking criminal to be putting people back in the way of another disaster. The government should have used the money to eminent-domain the entire area, give each family a few hundred thousand dollars for their homes (which was vastly more than they were worth), and help them relocate to the nicer areas of town. They could then just level the entire area, let nature reclaim it and then they'd have a nice, natural place for the water to flow when the levees inevitably are breached again.

meanmutton:Honestly, it was farking criminal to be putting people back in the way of another disaster. The government should have used the money to eminent-domain the entire area, give each family a few hundred thousand dollars for their homes (which was vastly more than they were worth), and help them relocate to the nicer areas of town. They could then just level the entire area, let nature reclaim it and then they'd have a nice, natural place for the water to flow when the levees inevitably are breached again.

But if this scenario were to happen again, maybe they'd realize waiting around for welfare checks with imminent danger approaching is not the best decision. But then again, maybe not.

Compare and contrast how the gov responded to Hurricane Katrina with the way it responded to Hurricane Sandy.

Katrina: "Poor people who built in a flood zone because that's all they could afford? They never should have been in a known flood zone in the first place. Fark 'em."

Sandy: "Rich people who built houses on sand 15 feet from the Atlantic Ocean? OMG! Something has to be done immediately to rebuilt the vacation mansions(at public expense) of millionaire jerb creators!"

meanmutton:Honestly, it was farking criminal to be putting people back in the way of another disaster. The government should have used the money to eminent-domain the entire area, give each family a few hundred thousand dollars for their homes (which was vastly more than they were worth), and help them relocate to the nicer areas of town. They could then just level the entire area, let nature reclaim it and then they'd have a nice, natural place for the water to flow when the levees inevitably are breached again.

Well, for the sake of argument, the Corps swears that the levees really up to standards now.

Something important to remember: New Orleans wasn't hit by a Cat 5 storm that caused the levees to fail. Katrina was a strong Cat 3 at landfall, and it sideswiped Nola. Some of the levees (actually, flood walls) that failed along the canals had high water that was pushed there by Cat-2-strength winds. A failure in engineering led to the flooding. Had the flood walls held, New Orleans would have suffered some damage, but would have been back in business in a few days.

meanmutton:Honestly, it was farking criminal to be putting people back in the way of another disaster. The government should have used the money to eminent-domain the entire area, give each family a few hundred thousand dollars for their homes (which was vastly more than they were worth), and help them relocate to the nicer areas of town. They could then just level the entire area, let nature reclaim it and then they'd have a nice, natural place for the water to flow when the levees inevitably are breached again.

How are these people suppose to maintain a house in a nicer area of New Orleans?

detroitdoesntsuckthatbad:meanmutton: Honestly, it was farking criminal to be putting people back in the way of another disaster. The government should have used the money to eminent-domain the entire area, give each family a few hundred thousand dollars for their homes (which was vastly more than they were worth), and help them relocate to the nicer areas of town. They could then just level the entire area, let nature reclaim it and then they'd have a nice, natural place for the water to flow when the levees inevitably are breached again.

But if this scenario were to happen again, maybe they'd realize waiting around for welfare checks with imminent danger approaching is not the best decision. But then again, maybe not.

Onkel Buck:detroitdoesntsuckthatbad: meanmutton: Honestly, it was farking criminal to be putting people back in the way of another disaster. The government should have used the money to eminent-domain the entire area, give each family a few hundred thousand dollars for their homes (which was vastly more than they were worth), and help them relocate to the nicer areas of town. They could then just level the entire area, let nature reclaim it and then they'd have a nice, natural place for the water to flow when the levees inevitably are breached again.

But if this scenario were to happen again, maybe they'd realize waiting around for welfare checks with imminent danger approaching is not the best decision. But then again, maybe not.

Ok, CSB time. I attended a conference in Gulfport, Mississippi just before the hurricane onslaughts of 2004 and '05. Hotel for guests was connected with a walkway across US 90 to a casino. Which had been built out over the water on floatation devices that were supposedly engineered to rise up, then settle the casino safely back down with any storm surge.

Later, someone sent me a pic of the casino crashed upside down in the middle of US 90. Presumably, the remains of the hotel were somewhere north of I-10.

URAPNIS:meanmutton: Honestly, it was farking criminal to be putting people back in the way of another disaster. The government should have used the money to eminent-domain the entire area, give each family a few hundred thousand dollars for their homes (which was vastly more than they were worth), and help them relocate to the nicer areas of town. They could then just level the entire area, let nature reclaim it and then they'd have a nice, natural place for the water to flow when the levees inevitably are breached again.

How are these people suppose to maintain a house in a nicer area of New Orleans?

Onkel Buck:detroitdoesntsuckthatbad: meanmutton: Honestly, it was farking criminal to be putting people back in the way of another disaster. The government should have used the money to eminent-domain the entire area, give each family a few hundred thousand dollars for their homes (which was vastly more than they were worth), and help them relocate to the nicer areas of town. They could then just level the entire area, let nature reclaim it and then they'd have a nice, natural place for the water to flow when the levees inevitably are breached again.

But if this scenario were to happen again, maybe they'd realize waiting around for welfare checks with imminent danger approaching is not the best decision. But then again, maybe not.

Never underestimate the power of learned helplessness

Oh yeah, being already impoverished in a destroyed city with a destroyed economy is totally a situation you can resolve your sudden homelessness in.

mcreadyblue:Onkel Buck: detroitdoesntsuckthatbad: meanmutton: Honestly, it was farking criminal to be putting people back in the way of another disaster. The government should have used the money to eminent-domain the entire area, give each family a few hundred thousand dollars for their homes (which was vastly more than they were worth), and help them relocate to the nicer areas of town. They could then just level the entire area, let nature reclaim it and then they'd have a nice, natural place for the water to flow when the levees inevitably are breached again.

But if this scenario were to happen again, maybe they'd realize waiting around for welfare checks with imminent danger approaching is not the best decision. But then again, maybe not.

detroitdoesntsuckthatbad:meanmutton: Honestly, it was farking criminal to be putting people back in the way of another disaster. The government should have used the money to eminent-domain the entire area, give each family a few hundred thousand dollars for their homes (which was vastly more than they were worth), and help them relocate to the nicer areas of town. They could then just level the entire area, let nature reclaim it and then they'd have a nice, natural place for the water to flow when the levees inevitably are breached again.

But if this scenario were to happen again, maybe they'd realize waiting around for welfare checks with imminent danger approaching is not the best decision. But then again, maybe not.

Yup, every single person in the ninth ward is a welfare sucking leach.

Whatever helps you sleep at night with your false sense of superiority over people that suffered not only a terrible natural disaster , but a flaccid response by every level of government.

IamTomJoad:detroitdoesntsuckthatbad: meanmutton: Honestly, it was farking criminal to be putting people back in the way of another disaster. The government should have used the money to eminent-domain the entire area, give each family a few hundred thousand dollars for their homes (which was vastly more than they were worth), and help them relocate to the nicer areas of town. They could then just level the entire area, let nature reclaim it and then they'd have a nice, natural place for the water to flow when the levees inevitably are breached again.

But if this scenario were to happen again, maybe they'd realize waiting around for welfare checks with imminent danger approaching is not the best decision. But then again, maybe not.

Yup, every single person in the ninth ward is a welfare sucking leach.

Whatever helps you sleep at night with your false sense of superiority over people that suffered not only a terrible natural disaster , but a flaccid response by every level of government.

Props to you

You forgot to post your address so we know where we can send some of these folks that still need help

IamTomJoad:detroitdoesntsuckthatbad: meanmutton: Honestly, it was farking criminal to be putting people back in the way of another disaster. The government should have used the money to eminent-domain the entire area, give each family a few hundred thousand dollars for their homes (which was vastly more than they were worth), and help them relocate to the nicer areas of town. They could then just level the entire area, let nature reclaim it and then they'd have a nice, natural place for the water to flow when the levees inevitably are breached again.

But if this scenario were to happen again, maybe they'd realize waiting around for welfare checks with imminent danger approaching is not the best decision. But then again, maybe not.

Yup, every single person in the ninth ward is a welfare sucking leach.

Whatever helps you sleep at night with your false sense of superiority over people that suffered not only a terrible natural disaster , but a flaccid response by every level of government.

Props to you

Pretty much this.

Also - Pre-Katrina, the 9th Ward (Upper and Lower) had one of the highest/densest concentrations of home ownership among black Americans.

vicejay:IamTomJoad: detroitdoesntsuckthatbad: meanmutton: Honestly, it was farking criminal to be putting people back in the way of another disaster. The government should have used the money to eminent-domain the entire area, give each family a few hundred thousand dollars for their homes (which was vastly more than they were worth), and help them relocate to the nicer areas of town. They could then just level the entire area, let nature reclaim it and then they'd have a nice, natural place for the water to flow when the levees inevitably are breached again.

But if this scenario were to happen again, maybe they'd realize waiting around for welfare checks with imminent danger approaching is not the best decision. But then again, maybe not.

Yup, every single person in the ninth ward is a welfare sucking leach.

Whatever helps you sleep at night with your false sense of superiority over people that suffered not only a terrible natural disaster , but a flaccid response by every level of government.

Props to you

Pretty much this.

Also - Pre-Katrina, the 9th Ward (Upper and Lower) had one of the highest/densest concentrations of home ownership among black Americans.

Fissile:Compare and contrast how the gov responded to Hurricane Katrina with the way it responded to Hurricane Sandy.

Katrina: "Poor people who built in a flood zone because that's all they could afford? They never should have been in a known flood zone in the first place. Fark 'em."

Sandy: "Rich people who built houses on sand 15 feet from the Atlantic Ocean? OMG! Something has to be done immediately to rebuilt the vacation mansions(at public expense) of millionaire jerb creators!"

/It's not about race.

Actually, when floods hit the Midwest in 2011, the people who got FEMA money and temporary housing units (AKA FEMA trailers) were under much, much more scrutiny with how dollars were spent and what they were doing to get back in to their homes - and that was all a result of the abuse of funds during Katrina. In Minot, ND, today is the last day that anyone involved in the flood can be in a THU without buying it. Some of them in New Orleans were occupied for several years after the event. Some of the SBA money from Katrina has never been repaid (and nobody prosecuted), and that resulted in incredibly strict rules being placed on folks who have had to go that route during post-Katrina disasters. This includes the Midwest floods, the Joplin Tornado, the recent Moore tornado, etc. And where were all of those disasters? Primarily in locations without a huge minority population. The only regulations that changed after the Sandy event were how Community Development Block Grant (Disaster Recovery) funds can be spent. They now allow individual reimbursements for those who rebuild, but the majority of the money has to go to those with low to moderate incomes. So, no, it's not about race, or how much money people have unless they're poor.

Jesus Christ, this farking thread again? NOLA isn't going anywhere. You'll get over it. Shove your landfills and bulldozers up your asses, then get the hell down here because we still have plenty of cold ones waiting on you.

Must be stories from the people who didn't take the money given to those that moved out then came up to Baton Rouge rented housing until the money ran out trashing whole neighborhoods in the process and then got evicted for failure to pay the rent when the money ran out. You should have seen my sister's neighborhood as her house stood out due to being the only one well maintained. The rest of the homes in the area were dirty with damage and no less than four cars parked in the un-mowed front lawn. She was finally able to sell her home this year and get out of the area. I am just happy that there were no homes for sell or rent in my area during the time period.

When I first came here, this was all swamp. Everyone said I was daft to build a castle on a swamp, but I built in all the same, just to show them. It sank into the swamp. So I built a second one. That sank into the swamp. So I built a third. That burned down, fell over, then sank into the swamp. But the fourth one stayed up.

I don't know about the Lower Ninth Ward side of the industrial canal but the areas that flooded on the other side have turned into hipster central. And I don't mean a few people walking around in skinny jeans. It's wall to wall PBR and fixies. If I had bought a dozen homes in Bywater after Katrina and flipped them in the last couple of years, I'd be able to retire rich.

I believe that their unpreparedness for that flood can be blamed in large part on damage to their infrastructure during WWII. And, as someone else has pointed out, they responded to that disaster by overhauling and improving the dikes.

BafflerMeal:JesseL: flondrix: I think it comes down to this: The Dutch are competent enough to settle land below sea level. Americans are not.

Also, though, we need to restore some of the marshy areas way out from shore that used to provide a "damper" for storm surges.

[upload.wikimedia.org image 746x600]

Sure, sure. And they they actually had the political and social will to do something good instead of blaming the flooded.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta_Works

And it only took them just under 50 years to finish that project.

And then:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Civil_engineering_and_infrastructure_re pa ir_in_New_Orleans_after_Hurricane_Katrina#Future_improvementsIn January 2007, the Army Corps of Engineers, after having visited the extensive "Delta Works" levee system in the Netherlands, awarded a $150 million contract to a group of Dutch engineering companies for the evaluation, design and construction management of levees and floodwalls, special closure structures for protection of the communities adjacent to the Inner Harbor Navigation Canal, major pumping facilities and planning studies for improved levels of flood protection for New Orleans and southern Louisiana. The Delta Works are a series of constructions built between 1953 and 1997 in the southwest of the Netherlands to protect a large area of land around the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt delta from the sea. The works consist of dams, sluices, locks, levees, and storm surge barriers. The works were initiated after the North Sea flood of 1953 in which 2,170 people were killed.Since Katrina, the US, through the Army Corps of Engineers, has made a $14.45 billion investment in the area around New Orleans. Some of the projects include:[2] * The world's largest water pump station (Gulf Intracoastal Waterway West Closure Complex) which can pump 1 million US gallons (3,800 m3) per minute and will cost $1 billion. [3]* Hundreds of levee and pump station improvements. [4]* The IHNC Lake Borgne Surge Barrier, the longest storm surge barrier in the United States* The Seabrook Floodgate, a floodgate at the connection of Lake Ponchartrain with the Industrial Canal

meanmutton:Honestly, it was farking criminal to be putting people back in the way of another disaster. The government should have used the money to eminent-domain the entire area, give each family a few hundred thousand dollars for their homes (which was vastly more than they were worth), and help them relocate to the nicer areas of town. They could then just level the entire area, let nature reclaim it and then they'd have a nice, natural place for the water to flow when the levees inevitably are breached again.

The problem is there is just no other place to put them down there. NOLA needs an unskilled work force to work the crappy low end jobs and there is not enough room to move housing for these folks to somewhere else.